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Abercrombie & Fitch said it plans to close all of its Gilly Hicks stores by the end of the first quarter of 2014.

The announcement, along with an updated forecast of falling sales in the third quarter, sent Abercrombie shares down more than 8 percent at one point in after-hours trading.

The retailer opened the first Gilly Hicks store in January 2008 and most recently had 20 stores in the United States and eight overseas. There are no stand-alone stores in Ohio.

The New Albany-based retailer said it expects to incur pre-tax charges of about $90 million to $100 million related to the restructuring plans for the Australian-themed intimate apparel brand.

“I’m not sure if it was the right brand for them,” said Morningstar analyst Jaime Katz. “It was the same story with Ruehl. They tried it for a while and it didn’t work. Maybe staying with their core brand would work better for them.”

Ruehl was an upscale chain meant to attract customers in their 20s and early 30s. Abercrombie launched that brand in 2004 and shut it in 2010.

The Gilly Hicks chain was intended to compete with Victoria’s Secret, Aerie and Frederick’s of Hollywood. The chain took its name from a fictional character created by Abercrombie, an English woman who studied fashion in Paris and later moved to Australia.

The closing came along with other bad news from Abercrombie: The retailer said sales fell to $1.03 billion during the third quarter, down from $1.17 billion during the same quarter last year. Analysts were expecting sales of

The announcement that Gilly Hicks would shut down came only a day before Abercrombie is to meet with Wall Street analysts to discuss the recent completion of the company’s long-term strategic review.

“It’s terrible they have to come out and say it in advance of the analyst day,” Katz said. “What’s the rest of it? Do they want to get the bad news out, and it will sort of be water under the bridge by the time day opens? I don’t know. Hopefully, they have a solid roadmap on how to right size the business and get back in favor with their core audience.”

Abercrombie said the Gilly Hicks closure is related to the long-term strategic review.

“We have decided to focus the future development of the Gilly Hicks brand through Hollister stores and direct-to-consumer channels,” said Mike Jeffries, CEO and chairman, in a statement.

The company has tested selling Gilly Hicks apparel in Hollister stores, Jeffries said, which was a “successful pilot.”

“We believe it is critical to focus our efforts and resources where we have the greatest opportunities to drive profitable growth for our brands,” Jeffries said.